The Ministers of Social Affairs and Development of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries approved the adoption of March 4 of each year as Gulf Women’s Day, which reflects the common interest in enhancing their presence and highlighting their contributions to the family, society and development.
The approval came during a meeting of ministers in Manama on Thursday. Based on a proposal submitted by Saudi Arabia, represented by the Family Affairs Council, based on a Kuwaiti initiative to designate a day for Gulf women, and it was agreed upon by members of the Permanent Committee for Women’s Affairs in the Gulf states.
The choice of March 4 is based on the significance carried by Article Four of the Statute of the Gulf Cooperation Council, and the objectives it embodies of the Council in achieving coordination, integration and interconnection among member states, which reflects the role of women as an active partner in the process of joint Gulf action.
The date gains a media dimension because it falls at the beginning of the month that witnesses global interest in women’s issues, allowing a Gulf space to celebrate them and highlight their contributions, ahead of their international day on March 8.
The adoption of Gulf Women's Day represents an annual occasion to highlight their contributions and presence in various fields, and to provide an experience that reflects the specificity of the GCC countries and their common identity.
This annual occasion also enhances the presence of women in joint Gulf action paths, embodying the spirit of integration and cooperation among the GCC countries.
The meeting discussed a number of topics related to developing cooperation, including the strategy for joint Gulf action in the field of labor and manpower, which addresses several axes, the most prominent of which are labor market skills, combating forced labor and human trafficking, and promoting balance and equal opportunities in the market.
The ministers discussed continuing to prepare the Gulf guiding framework for green jobs, another to organize and unify efforts to recruit domestic service workers in the GCC countries, and a project to regulate the work environment in the platform economy, enhance occupational safety and health, and prepare labor markets.
In 2006, American director Sofia Coppola's film "Marie Antoinette" - with its imaginative style and bright, candy-like colors - divided audiences, due to modern details such as shoes by designer Manolo Blahnik and a contemporary soundtrack. However, over time the film has become a classic, and “The Palace of Versailles” is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its release with an exhibition at the “Petit Trianon.” It is the small palace located within the royal complex, which was allocated to the Queen for her private use in the 1870s, and where parts of the movie “Marie Antoinette” were filmed.
Curated by Hélène Delalix and Laurent Salome and running until January 24, the exhibition re-presents costumes designed by Melina Canonero (for which she won an Oscar) along with a collection of film props, sketches and photographs. In Marie Antoinette's private rooms, German mannequins are used to recreate some scenes and shots from the film.
Coppola also returns to explore the film “Marie Antoinette” cinematically again. While she was working on the film 20 years ago, there was one eye watching closely: her mother, Eleanor, who shot about 100 hours of behind-the-scenes footage for the documentary. Although Eleanor Coppola passed away in 2024 without completing the project, her daughter completed it on her behalf. The documentary “Making Marie Antoinette,” which serves as a time capsule documenting the original film and the career of a young director making her way in the world of cinema, is scheduled to be released in US theaters on October 23.
In a recent interview, Coppola (55 years old) talked about her return to the Palace of Versailles, her struggle to highlight the female perspective in the film, and her watching “hip-hop”-edited video clips of the movie “Marie Antoinette” on the TikTok platform.
Below are edited excerpts from that conversation.
* Were you surprised when officials at the Palace of Versailles contacted you regarding this exhibition?
- Yes, I was really surprised; It was a surreal feeling to be there again, in Marie Antoinette's real residence, with the costumes used in our version of the film. I was impressed by the curators' attention to preparation and research materials, so I was excited to open the boxes I had in storage at my family's home in Napa Valley. Anne Sippel, our art director, also preserved a lot of things, and our amazing costume designer, Melina Canonero, tracked down different pieces and assembled props to completely recreate the scene, and we even recreated some of the lighting systems that were used in the film.
* What do you remember about your feelings while working on the film?
- It was very stressful and confusing, because I had never taken on a project of this size before. The work required a huge number of people, including extras and crew. I think I had a kind of naivety that characterizes youth; I don't think I would take a step like this now.
But I had a very clear vision in mind, and I was really trying to make a different kind of historical film. The films I grew up on relied on huge visual scenes that resembled artistic paintings. I always had the feeling that you were looking at history from afar, while I wanted this film to give the viewer the feeling of actually transporting through time and living side by side with the characters. When I visited Marie Antoinette’s real private rooms, I was amazed that the fabrics were a bright turquoise color; This was not common in historical films at that time, as the dominant colors were always calm and dull earthy tones.
* Were you surprised by the controversy surrounding anachronisms (the use of modern elements in a historical context) in the film upon its release?
- It was disappointing that some people felt so offended by this. For me, it is difficult for me to comprehend the idea that modern music could be so offensive to people, especially since this style has become so popular now. I was aware that an American director presenting this story might be seen as provocative or a bit rebellious, but you can never predict in advance how the audience will receive works of art.
*The film's reputation seems to have changed significantly since its release. Do you feel that way?
- certainly. I feel like the film has gained a whole new audience among young people; My daughters show me edited videos of the film to the tunes of hip-hop music via the TikTok application, which is something I love very much. It was a pleasant and enjoyable surprise, because films usually don't get talked about or cared about after a while.
* The documentary you edited based on footage filmed by your mother, “Making Marie Antoinette,” will be released in the United States in October. Why did it take so long to return to that material?
- Only a very small portion of it was used as bonus material for the DVD release at the time, and then we moved on with our lives; I was busy giving birth and raising my children and completely forgot about it. But during the pandemic, the whole family gathered at our house in Napa. My mom took out the footage to watch, and that was the first time I'd seen it. It was amazing for me to see every detail captured in her lens, every aspect of the craftsmanship and perfection: the costumes, the wigs, the flowers. She had a real desire to create a work of art using that footage. She passed away two years ago, but at the end of her life, making this film was very important to her, and I promised her I would do it. I've worked a lot over the past year with an editor and a friend of my mother's, trying to figure out how she wanted the film to be made, although it's difficult to have an objective view of the matter. Because I appear in it, and because seeing myself at that early age causes me some embarrassment.
*Why?
- Because I did not have that confidence at the time to impose my opinion or prove myself; I was still making my way as a young filmmaker. I thought this might be interesting for other young people who are passionate about cinema, to see how a person’s journey develops as a creative person. It also allows me to see through my mother's eyes, as she watches her daughter at work. Working on this film was a very emotional experience, and felt like a gift she left me.
When the October War broke out in 1973, the battle was not limited to the front trenches and the front lines of fire, but rather extended to include all segments of Egyptian society in an unprecedented historical epic.
In the depth of this exceptional scene, four of the most prominent stars of classical Egyptian art and cinema chose a context completely different from the lights of fame and stardom. They took off their elegant art dresses and put on white nursing clothes as volunteers in the Egyptian Red Crescent Society, to spend long months inside the lobbies of military hospitals providing medical, psychological, and humanitarian care to the wounded and those injured in military operations in the “Qasr Al-Aini” and “Maadi Military” hospitals.
This presence was not just a passing moment to take pictures or perform a protocol duty, but rather it was hard field work and pure national loyalty that was engraved in the memory of the liberation war.
Faten Hamama, Nadia Lotfy, Tahia Karioka, and Hala Fakher presented a living example of the intellectual and artist who sides with his country in moments of fate, a humanitarian legacy that has returned to the forefront of the digital scene with force recently, with widespread circulation on social networking sites of pictures of the four stars in white robes next to the beds of the injured, amid widespread praise and remarkable celebration from tweeters and the Egyptian public for their valor and stripping them of the glamor of stardom in favor of duty.
Faten Hamama... “The Lady of the Screen” leads the Red Crescent’s relief efforts
When the war broke out, the star Faten Hamama (who was then 42 years old and a film actress and author who was on the throne of stardom as a lady of the Arab screen) was one of the first volunteers to answer the call of duty through the Red Crescent Society.
The big star was not satisfied with moral support, but also became fully involved as a volunteer nurse, regularly moving between the rooms of the wounded and war-wounded inside hospitals.
Faten Hamama was known for her tender human touch behind the scenes. She visited battle heroes in various hospitals almost daily to check on the quality of medical care and the quality of food provided to them.
The association's historical records indicate that it used to spend long hours with the families of the martyrs and the injured to provide them with psychological support. Indeed, it often accompanied its colleagues from the artistic community with it to distribute sweets and meet the personal needs of fighters whose limbs were amputated or who were seriously injured.
Nadia Lotfy... “The Pillars of Art War” in the trenches of Maadi Hospital
The artist Nadia Lutfi (who was 36 years old at the time and working as a leading film actress) had a unique experience that was considered the richest and most documented of that period. Nadia Lutfi transferred her activity and life almost entirely to Maadi Military Hospital and Qasr Al-Aini Hospital, to engage in the arduous nursing work that included cleaning the rooms of the wounded and helping to bandage critical injuries.
Its role went beyond the boundaries of health care to deeper human and documentary dimensions. She would sit for long hours next to the injured soldiers, carrying papers and pens, writing down their dictated letters to send to their mothers and wives in the villages and governorates to reassure them that they were alive.
Because of this valor and the field effort, which also included accompanying director Shadi Abdel Salam to film the famous documentary film “Armies of the Sun” to document the testimonies of the heroes, the great writer Youssef Idris called it “the pillars of the war of art.”
Greetings from Karioka... “Chief Nurse” and Ward No. “21”
The star Tahia Karioka (then 58 years old and working as an actress, dancer, and political activist known for her national history) embodied the spirit of sacrifice in its finest form. She officially volunteered in the Red Crescent, and obtained a rank described in the archives of the National Council for Women as “senior volunteer nurse.”
Her work was not fleeting. Rather, Carioca resided almost entirely for several months inside Ward No. 21 at Qasr Al-Aini Hospital to serve the war-wounded and wounded. She personally assumed basic nursing tasks and supervised the provision of medicines, in addition to leading extensive campaigns to collect financial and in-kind donations for the war effort and securing medical supplies for hospitals, thus completing a long journey of national struggle that she began since the tripartite aggression and the 1967 war.
Hala Fakher... The younger generation participates in caring for the families of heroes
The young artist at the time, Hala Fakher (she was 27 years old at the time of the war and working as a rising theater and film actress from an ancient artistic family) represented the young generation that insisted on leaving its mark in the battle of dignity.
Hala Fakher joined her senior colleagues as a volunteer nurse in the Red Crescent, wearing a white uniform to perform her humanitarian duty.
Hala Fakher’s role focused extensively on logistical aspects and field and psychological support for soldiers; Its activity was not limited to caring for the wounded inside medical wards, but also extended to organizing field visits to the homes and homes of the families of the martyrs and the injured in various neighborhoods.
She contributed abundantly to providing direct social support to these families, expressing the awareness of a generation of young artists of their societal and national responsibility in supporting the state during its most difficult historical periods.
